What a year 2017 was for me and the family! It was dubbed “The Year of Hard Things” and I’m so happy to start a new year. We had lots of changes and growth but came out stronger and better off in the end.

The year started out in San Francisco and we were looking into private school options for KK. We were still on a house hunt but inventory in Alameda had decreased to almost nothing after Trump was elected president.

After waiting another month and changing our search criteria, we found a cute little townhome on Bay Farm that was facing a greenbelt and playground. It was in good shape, had plenty of space, and the price was right. So, we placed a bid, won the bidding war, and moved in on March 13th.

KK continued to go to her Pre-K program in SF but Peanut had to say goodbye to Mirian and Andrea and started his new school on the same day we picked up our keys. It took some time for Peanut to adjust but he seemed to get used to drop-offs much quicker than KK did at the same age.

At our new home, we learned that we were living in a circle of houses containing other families with kids around the same ages as ours. KK became good friends with Gavin next door. He would come by the house everyday afterschool and KK also started playing with all the other kids in the neighborhood. It was also nice to have so much outside space for the kids to enjoy on the weekends and evenings.

In April, we repainted and staged the SF condo. It was so sad to say goodbye but we sold it for a great price. We actually made a hefty profit and ended up with a surplus to pay down some of our new mortgage, pay off the Irvine house, buy a minivan with cash, and put some away for a kitchen renovation.

This was also the year that KK turned FIVE. It felt like such a big milestone to us. She had her Pre-K graduation and seemed ready to take on Kindergarten like a boss.

In addition to life changes, work was not getting any easier. Teresa decided to go to Kaiser Oakland and stay at Children’s for one day per week.

Later Stephanie moved to New Jersey and life at CHO was just not the same anymore. I was also feeling overworked, underappreciated, and just plain lonely.

We also gained another family member this year. In May, Leela was born and she is such an easy-going baby who seems to have read the baby textbook because she’s plowing through her milestones one right after the other.

In the summer, I started looking at my work options since KK would be starting Kindergarten in August and drop-off and pick-up logistics would become more complicated. I decided to make a major change and accepted a new job at Kaiser Oakland after working at Children’s Hospital for 10 years.

KK started Kindergarten in August and my hope was to be able to volunteer at her school and be more available to her this school year.

In September, I said goodbye to my work family and took two weeks off before starting the new job at the end of the month. During that time, I studied, volunteered at KK’s school, took care of my new-hire business, and took some time to myself to reset my work brain.

With this new job, I switched from 40 hrs/week down to 32 hrs/week with a promotion. I also got to share a cubicle with Teresa. It was a hard change but a good one in the grand scheme of things.

I also took an exam in October to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). I didn’t find out the results of the exam until end of December and was relieved to see my certificate and a passing score in the mail.

In October, we also started a major project at home. We hired contractors to remodel our kitchen from the ground up. Demolition started on October 9th and they didn’t finish until early December. That was a painful 3 months of eating out a lot, washing dishes in the backyard, and basically living like we were in a hotel. Luckily the kitchen turned out great and we love the new space so much.

In November, Jes and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by taking a trip without the kids for the first time. We decided to go to Kauai since we hadn’t been there since our honeymoon.  It was hard to just relax and do nothing for the first day or so but by the end, it was so nice to have absolutely nothing to do or worry about. We took naps, we ate whenever we felt hungry, and I got to watch so many movies on the plane! Thanks to my parents for watching the kids during the while we were away (also in the middle of the kitchen remodel!).

The grand finale for the year was having 3 weeks off in December. It started with Hong Kong for Kelly and Alvin’s wedding and it was so much fun for the whole family.

We also made it to Disneyland for Christmas Eve once again and this year was one of the best so far for us. The kids were tantrum-free, we had short wait times for rides, and KK was big and brave enough to ride Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain for the first time!!!

What a year…here’s my “bestnine” compilation on Instagram.

Hoping 2018 is smooth sailing for us.